Page 36 April 2015 PANDA preps for fundraiser By Rachael Bouley Local organization PANDA, People Acting Now Discover Answers, held a gelato social on Sunday, February 22, to celebrate its efforts and bring members and their families together to prepare for their main fundraising event in April. PANDA works to raise funds for the Steele Children’s Research Center at the University of Arizona. Last year, the Steele Children’s Translational Research Center opened in Arcadia, giving presence to the center in the Phoenix area and making it easier for local families to participate in research studies. On Sunday, it served as the perfect location for a fun day of Frost Gelato, pictures and special speakers. The children who are modeling in PANDA’s 16th annual Children Helping Children Fashion Show and Luncheon fundraiser on April 25 attended the event with their families. “The fashion show is the main fundraiser that we do,” said Sarah Smith, PANDA member. In this year’s show, more than 50 children will take the stage at The Phoenician and share styles from local boutiques. There will also be a silent auction with nearly 150 packages, donated by community businesses. On Sunday, the young models had their photos taken and heard from PANDA members on the importance of their participation and how they can be a friend to someone who is sick with cancer or other difficult diseases. The kids were especially excited when a panda bear dropped by to pose for photos and give out hugs and high-fives. Dr. Fayez Ghishan, the director of the Steele Research Center, was on hand to speak with parents and children, and emphasize that their efforts can make a huge difference. “Without the PANDAs, nothing would happen,” Dr. Ghishan said. Every year, the PANDAs focus their fundraising project on research for a particular disease. This year, funds will support research in pediatric cancer, specifically in methods of preventing relapses. The goal is to develop new therapies and implement new treatments that will give children a better chance to beat cancer permanently. Since the group began, PANDA has raised over $5.25 million to fund medical research for a number of devastating childhood diseases at the Steele Research Center. This year, they hope to raise enough funds to break their previous records. Be a part of Arcadia Home & Design , a special pull-out section in the April edition of Arcadia News . This go-to guide features captivating stories about families, homeowners and their homes in Arcadia. Contact Roni Mier at 602-840-6379 or roni@arcadianews.com for more information.   Mid-Century Modern     B Backyard A Outdoor Sanctuary S  Y S  Y O   El Chaparral A Sweet Home Porch G Y  the look of Fall 2015 Home & Design Guide Themes OCTOBER - ART & FURNITURE Ad space and design 9/14 @ Noon Print-ready art due 9/17 @ 5 p.m. DECEMBER - DESIGN & DECOR Ad space and design 11/13 @ Noon Print-ready art due 11/17 @ 5 p.m. JUNE - YOUR INNER SANCTUARY Ad space and design 5/15 @ Noon Print-ready art due 5/18 @ 5 p.m. AUGUST - CONSTRUCTION & REMODEL Ad space and design 7/14 @ Noon Print-ready art due 7/17 @ 5 p.m.   tury Modern tury Modern tury Backyard Backyard B Backyard B Outdoor Outdoor Sanctuary Sanctuary Mid- Cen tury     Backyard Backyard Outdoor Outdoor Sanctuary Sanctuary Sanctuary S  Y El Chaparral A Sweet Home Sweet Home Sweet Home A Sweet Home A Porch Porch Porch the look of Fall 50,000 affluent readers are waiting to discover you. 3641 N. 56th Street, Phoenix • 480-945-9537 • www.popphoenix.org Northeast corner of 56th St. and Indian School Road Petting Zoo • Arizona Puppet Theater • Bounce Houses • Beach Day Vacation Bible School • Ice Castles • Patriotic Parade • Costume Day Luau • Music and Art Experiences • Science Experiments • Sports • Snow Cones Join us for 8 weeks of Preschool Fun from June 1–July 24 Celebr ate Holy Week and Easter at Prince of Peace! Sunday, April 5, 7 a.m. Easter Sunrise Prayer Service on top of Camelback Mountain! Sunday, April 5, 9 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. Easter Celebrations at Church Saturday, April 4, 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. Easter Fun-Day for Kids and Families (Egg Hunt, Crafts, Treats and More) Thursday, April 2, 7 p.m. Maundy Thursday Worship Friday, April 3, 12 p.m. & 7 p.m. Good Friday Worship Children were surprised by a visit from a furry friend.

Page 37 April 2015 By Jessica Morrison Since the 1990s, the number of women graduating with engineering degrees has decreased by half, from 36 percent to 18 percent, said Suzanne Fallender, director of Intel’s Global Girls and Women Initiative. Fallender moderated the Girls Engineering Change panel at the Women Investing in Women Summit at ASU on February 20, where women who mentor girls in an effort to get them involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) discussed ways in which parents and the community can help girls become interested in STEM earlier in their education. “I really think parents need to show kids what it means to be an engineer, even if they don’t understand it themselves. Just knowing that this is a career path is really important,” said Bianca Bracht, a Duke University biomedical engineering student. Oftentimes, kids imagine STEM as involving a white male in a white coat, said Bracht. “These images are engrained,” said Jeanine Bashir, research and innovation program manager, for the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus Pine Council. Bashir works with different STEM partners across the state, including partnering with ASU’s STEM Innovation Task Force, and mentoring youth in the community. The panel at ASU discussed how parents could enable school-age girls to learn about STEM, and encourage them to participate in activities that are offered in the community, through Girl Scouts, and programs such as CompuGirls. Rebecca Beucher became involved in CompuGirls in 2014, while working on her master’s degree at the University of Colorado Literacy School of Education. Beucher said she was always advised to move toward literacy in college, as well as in her early career as an English literature teacher at the secondary education level. Beucher said she started to realize the importance of technology literacy. She also said she saw that technology brought into the classroom wasn’t being used in innovative ways. Instead, it was mainly used only for word processing. Beucher said CompuGirls, a program offered in some schools in the Greater Phoenix area, is grounded in social justice as much as technology. The program’s courses include digital storytelling, coding through the program Scratch, interacting in a virtual world and designing avatars. Beucher said CompuGirls is expanding around the country, working with girls that are statistically underrepresented, and with Girl Scouts of Arizona to improve girls’ literacy in technology. Melina Smith and Bracht, both biomedical engineering seniors at Duke, also spoke at the panel. Smith and Bracht helped bring Girls Engineering Change (GEC) to nonprofit status recently. Their friend, Christine Schindler, came up with the idea to get more girls interested in engineering, and applied to the Clinton Global Initiative, which recognized her idea two years ago. Smith said that girls often shy away from STEM because in early math classes, students work individually, with less communication between others during those courses. “It’s geared towards men in the sense that in math and science classes, you’re pretty much on your own; girls thrive more in a community, and that would be an important thing to introduce in the beginning: that engineering is team-based.” GEC mentors middle school-age girls, and involves them in hands-on projects. Recently, the students made solar phone chargers using soldering irons, which Smith said most students do not get to use until midway through an engineering degree. The phone chargers were then utilized in disaster relief. “Girls are just as ambitious as men are, and a study was done and discovered that we are more ambitious when we are doing something to help others.” “Our goal is to open girls’ minds to the fact that engineering is a possibility, just like English is a possibility. A good thing for parents to do is to have an open mind and a can-do attitude,” Smith said. Girl Scout Research Institute published tips for adults to help encourage girls in STEM. These tips included the following: • Talk to girls as if they are interested in STEM, because research shows they are. • Encourage girls to ask questions about the world and participate in experiments to foster their STEM skills. • Expose girls to experts and mentors in STEM fields. • Parents need to educate themselves about STEM opportunities. “Encouraging your daughters to go into a STEM field is something that is really important, and is a conversation that I don’t know that a lot of parents feel comfortable having with their children. I highly encourage it,” said Megan Greenwood, an audience member, and industrial engineer. She said there is a lot of conflicting information on STEM, and she wants schools to find a way to send a unified message to students. I really think parents need to show kids what it means to be an engineer, even if they don’t understand it themselves. ” — Bianca Bracht, a Duke University biomedical engineering student ‘‘ Focus on science, tech, engineering, math for females